Precursors of Purity
by Vegeta the 3rd
Summary: One was a sorcerer-for-hire of the Magi community. Another was an esteemed sage among Wizards. Both have failed the most important battles of their lives, but have found a kindred spirit in one another to take on the greatest challenge they have ever faced: parenthood.
1. Take from Zero

Disclaimer: Fate/Zero is property of Kinoko Nasu and Type Moon. Ni no Kuni is property of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

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><p>Part One: Take from Zero<p>

When he was young, he wanted to be a hero for her.

His childhood was normal for the most part, growing up on Alimango Island. The beaches, the village, the forest, he loved it all. He also held two people close to his heart at an early age; his father Norikata and his friend Shirley.

He had a dream, but was too embarrassed to tell Shirley at the time. He wanted nothing more than to be a superhero, always saving others and fighting for justice. He felt if she knew, she would never let him hear the end of it.

Then one day, Shirley changed. She drank something his father made, to try and prove to the village that he could make great things to help them. Suddenly she was brutally eating live chickens, and getting worse by the minute. She wanted more blood and slowly lost her sanity to the bloodlust. In her fleeting moments of humanity, Shirley begged him to kill her before everyone else could die.

But he couldn't. He loved her too much to hurt her, let alone kill her. He was also scared of her change and the idea of killing her, but deep down he wanted to save her. So he ran, trying to deny the very idea of her gone. He never saw her again.

He would come to regret his hesitation for years to come. By nightfall everyone in the village was killing and eating themselves, transformed by Shirley. To make amends, he performed his first act of justice and killed the man responsible; his father.

He had lost everything of his childhood, and there was nothing left for him in a burned-down village. But his dream to save everyone was never more pure or strong.

* * *

><p>When she was young, she was saved by a hero.<p>

Even as a child everyone knew she had the potential to become a great wizard. They were happy for her and expected great things from her in the future.

Then an army marched to her town and burned it down, presumably looking for anything of worth; gold, weapons, women, and especially her as their new wizard. In an instant, she had lost everything she had ever known, and was moments away from also losing her life.

She tried to run away, hoping not to run into any armored knights as they killed everyone else. If she only knew magic, she could help them, but her parents had died just to make sure she would be able to escape. It might be for naught, as she neared the exit of her home and ran into a lone soldier.

She almost gave up, but he urged her, _pleaded _her to run and save herself. She didn't know what to make of the man, and he sensed her hesitation. He gave her a beautiful pendent, something that she knew held sentimental value but was suggested to be used for money at her earliest convenience.

Though she never learned his name, the kindness of this man was just enough to strengthen her resolve and safely flee. The nightmares would haunt her over the years, but she would have a new family, a new start, and a determined goal inspired by her savior.

* * *

><p>At one point, he realized that all he could do was kill.<p>

It was as Natalia told him once. He had a gift of shutting off his emotions the moment he had a gun in his hand. Aim and fire was his mantra. It came so easy to him, where it would take years for most killers to even begin to grasp it. He had potential, but he acted too much like a machine and not a human.

He always tried to rationalize the best way to save everyone, but he learned the hard way that such thinking is impossible. People die all the time, all over the world. And there were people that would constantly cause harm to others if they were left alive. If he could kill those people, the world would be a little bit safer.

Natalia had given him so much after Alimango Island. She took him in. Raised him. Taught him how to handle a gun and gave him special ammunition to use, made from his own rib bones. In many ways, he saw her as the mother he never had.

Time passed, and an outbreak happened that neither of them could have predicted. In trying to assassinate a rogue magus on a plane, demon bees escaped from his corpse and infected everyone except Natalia. He rationalized every possibility to both save Natalia and take care of all the monsters onboard her plane, but the consequences outweighed his desires.

He had to save the many by sacrificing the few. He had to destroy the plane. He had to kill a loved one once more. He had to kill Natalia, who helped raised him after Alimango and had loved him like a mother would.

He killed his emotions long enough to fire the rocket launcher. Only when the plane exploded did he allow himself to cry.

* * *

><p>At one point, she realized she didn't have the heart to fight.<p>

Having escaped to Ding Dong Dell, she was found and adopted by a traveling couple on the way. The husband at the time was a Great Sage who had spent his days doing small quests for Swift Solutions, and teaching a new generation of students the art of magic. This man, Roan, took an instant liking to her, especially when he realized her gift.

It was rudimentary for all wizards to learn to empty their mind and clear their hearts of any emotion, including those close to evil. It was a skill most wizards didn't develop until they were well on their way as adults. And yet she was the first child her age to learn this skill and perfectly draw the rune for Form Familiar.

Though as she played with her new Bubbud, Roan saw fit to warn her that wizards must keep themselves balanced in regards to their emotions at all times. Having too much or too little of any virtue was dangerous to everyone, and wizards were no exception. This was most important because Give Heart and Take Heart were two vital spells needed to keep the people emotionally balanced. This was one of the many duties as a wizard that she quickly learned to do.

Years later, she and Roan had left together to claim a bounty on a rogue monster. They were instead ambushed by a swarm of them, acting oddly coordinated in their actions. Roan did most of the fighting with his Overripe Buncher familiar while she stayed close to him and drew runes for Healing Touch.

Things took a turn for the worst when another wizard appeared before them and started conjuring large flames. Fire especially scared her since her village was burned, and only the pendant she wore on her at all times calmed her down.

She blanked out when Roan tried to fend out the evil wizard with an explosion. When she came to, the monsters and evil wizard were gone. Roan had survived the encounter, but he had lost all confidence in himself. Since that day, he secluded himself in his house and refused to teach any more students in magic. He died a year later as a broken-hearted man, but he was only the first of many.

Since then, she strove to learn as much as she could to be a strong Sage so no one would end up like Roan ever again.

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><p>He continued on his blood-stained path, eventually earning the title of "Magus Killer". Kill one to save ten. Kill ten to save a hundred. Kill a hundred to save a thousand. Even if people died as collateral damage, those that lived on would be safe for another day. But he knew his efforts would never be enough to truly save the world, to truly grant the world peace.<p>

He finally found hope in the form of a wish.

He was contacted by the Einzbern family to be their representative in the Holy Grail War. In a nutshell, he would contract a Heroic Spirit as his summoned familiar that would battle other Magi-Servant teams and use his skills to fight to the last man. In return, should he win, he could have any wish of his desire granted; including world peace.

He hadn't expected to fall in love with the homunculus, Irisviel Einzbern, and have a daughter with her. If he hadn't, it might make his goal and job all the more bearable.

"She's so cute," she had said when Illya was born. "So small, so delicate. Her eyes are just like yours." He said nothing, staring past the window by her bed. A harsh snowstorm brewed outside of the castle they resided in, cut off from life and civilization for miles.

"Iri," he said finally. "You're going to die by my hand."

It was her fate to be destroyed and used as the Holy Grail in the end. She would be the container, the one to grant wishes, at the cost of her life. As a Master, he'd be directly responsible in ensuring that.

Irisviel only smiled. "I know. This has been the Einzbern's wish for generations. It's the very reason I exist. But you've given me a life beyond that of a simple homunculus. You've given me hope, love, and now little Illya. For you, I'll carry on your will, your ideals-"

"I don't deserve that child," he cut in. "I have no right to hold her."

What father should, anyway? He would be the one that would take her mother away. Even for a noble cause, she would never be happy.

"You _do_ have the right," she said. "You're striving for a world where no one needs to cry. Your ideal is a beautiful goal. I _know _the Holy Grail can grant your wish and save you. So take your daughter and hold her. Be proud like any father should."

He glanced between his wife and daughter; both equally beautiful from their white hair and soft features. Awkwardly, he took Illya in his hands and gently caressed her. He never felt something anything so light in his hands before. So light, yet full of life…

He would win the Holy Grail War, for his family. Iri would be the last innocent victim slain by his hand, and his dream would finally come true. It would all be worth it.

* * *

><p>The Dark Djinn. The Executioner. Shadar. The evil wizard had many names, and each one struck terror and fear into the people of the world. He was as wise as he was old, and looked every bit as terrifying; from his black robes with glowing runes to his long red locks obscuring his hunched, hooded face. No one dared stand up against him now, for he effortlessly stripped their hearts of their virtues and left them as empty husks until the day they died, or when a Nightmare found a new host. No matter which came first, it was still a horrible fate to see happen to wizards of any caliber.<p>

Shadar enforced a ban against all magic spells and wands. He burned down an entire city with the only military force large enough to fight him. He even destroyed the legendary wand Mornstar to prevent any wizard from opposing him. Regardless, she would fight him, and possibly save him. If Shadar could break the hearts of fellow wizards and would go such lengths to do so, he must have suffered tremendously in the past.

Getting to his lair was easy enough, but Shadar proved too much of a skilled wizard for her to overpower on her own. When she wasn't warding off his attempts of Take Heart, she was trading spell for spell in his domain at the end of the Miasma Marshes. As much as she hated to admit it, Shadar had the makings of being a Great Sage himself; possibly even the greatest sage since Wizard King Horace. His Black Briar barrier didn't make things easier on her end, though.

So despite her years of training, her prestige and title as a Great Sage and thus, carrying the mantle for only the strongest of wizards, she couldn't hope to defeat the Dark Djinn.

"It's over, Sage," said Shadar. "Like all wizards before, you too shall fall, where death is your only comfort."

But she refused to accept defeat. "You're wrong Shadar, I know of another way to win!"

"Oh? And what's that?"

"I'll find your soul mate!" Every person in this world was connected to someone from another world, and they shared a spiritual link that affected both ways. So whatever Shadar was experiencing was felt by his soul mate as well. If she could save his soul, then he too could be saved.

But then Shadar laughed at her. "So this is your plan? Your grand design?" he taunted in slow deliberateness. "It is a daring plan, I must admit. But I'm afraid I must disappoint you. You see… I have no soul mate."

"N-no," she gasped. "No! That's not possible! Without a soul mate, how could you exist?"

"I took precautions to sever all ties with he who shared my soul, so that this weakness could not be used against me. With no anchor tied to my life, I can now rule indefinitely for all time!"

It was worse than she feared. With no soul mate, Shadar had condemned a soul to wander aimlessly outside of reincarnation. He would kill his own shared life just to better his own ends. But there was still a way. The lost soul would one day be reborn.

There was still a way to find and save that soul, in the form of a spell.

She hastily drew her runes with her wand, energy building in a blue hue. Breach Time, a spell that could allow any wizard to travel to their designated point of time.

Shadar recognized them immediately, torn between dismay and surprise. "Surely not? You know you will never return! Not to this time!"

It was true; the spell could only be used once in a wizard's lifetime. No matter what time she would appear in, she would be lost to her world and those that she had vowed to protect. Just to save Shadar and his lost soul that will one day be reborn, she was about to throw it all away for them. Regardless-

"I'm well aware of that," she said. "And I am willing to pay the price."

"Damn you!" cursed the Dark Djinn, raising his own staff to stop her. Too late.

"_Today, tomorrow, yesterday! Show me the future; lead the way!_" And in a flash, she was gone into the future.

* * *

><p>Two lives. Two magicians. Two futures that would be directly influenced by their actions. It would have made no difference on their actions if the two had never crossed paths.<p>

But they did. And the change came.

* * *

><p>He was forced to see hell twice in succession.<p>

The first time was from the mud of the Grail, spilt out sometime during his fight with Kirei Kotomine. Though the scenery around him changed constantly, he didn't question it. No, he was more disturbed by how the Grail interpreted his wish into killing people, and had done so with questions.

When offering the lives of two different bodies of people, he always chose to sacrifice the smallest group of people in favor of the larger group. He thought little of it initially until he saw the gore and death in horrendous detail. And it didn't stop. The numbers kept dwindling. They kept dividing, and the Grail kept forcing him into killing for his hypothetical wish.

The only true peace that the Grail could grant was with his wife and daughter, both alive… and the rest of the world dead.

He would never force the world into the pointless bloodshed he tried so hard to prevent, even if it meant turning away from his family. So he rejected the Grail, and ordered his Servant Saber (blissfully unaware of its true nature) to destroy it.

No sooner was that accomplished did the remains of the Grail erupt and plunge the city into hellfire and blackness. It destroyed half the city, and so many people died.

All because of him.

He desperately searched the city, crying and calling out for any survivors.

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><p>As she expected, the soul mate of Shadar was eventually reincarnated. Finding it was the hard part; it required divination on a lock of hair or something else defining of a soul mate pair. She used a piece of cloth from Shadar's robes that one of her spells managed to tear off through the Black Briar, and was fortunate enough to get a reading.<p>

A Gateway spell later, she found herself in the night skies of a city. Upon first arrival, she was taken aback; she had never seen so many tall buildings before, be they brick or metal. And the many lights that illuminated the area were just breathtaking.

The moment abruptly ended when an explosion took place in the western half of the city.

She panicked and hurried down. If she lost the missing soul mate, everything would be all for naught.

Whatever illusion of beauty she had for the city died as she landed. Fire and napalm burned down everything in sight. People screamed in primal terror. So many dead bodies… It was like the day her home village had been burned down. Even so, she wouldn't stand by and do nothing. Even in a new world, she was a wizard. And wizards always helped people.

She hurried forward, quickly drawing the runes for Spirit Medium just in case. If the new soul died here, it would be lost to her forever, as would saving Shadar. The further she searched, the more discouraged she felt that she was too late to help anyone. The damage was too severe, and required the miraculous powers of Healing Hand to make a difference. She barely had enough power left to cast that spell, let alone enough times to save an entire city of dying civilians.

As selfish as it was, she had one person she had to save above all others, for the sake of her world.

Through her tracking and calling with spirits, her search was finally rewarded. In the middle of a street was a red-haired boy, not even ten. His clothes were unusual to her, both in color and design, but she had no time to dwell on it. Shadar's lost soul mate was dying, despite his struggles to live.

She had been too late. Even if she were to cure his wounds, she couldn't do the same for the soul. It would require the forbidden Ashes of Resurrection to save him, but at a great risk for the caster. Even if she was successful, it would require something of hers to be offered in trade. She recalled a different world having an important rule for their alchemy that applied to the spell: the Equivalent Exchange.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to save you now," she whispered. "But I promise you, your next life will be better."

Yes, there was one thing she could at least do. Reaching over the boy's body, she lightly grasped the essence of his soul. With a delicate plop, she managed to sever the soul from the body, giving the boy a gentle, if abrupt death.

She then guided the soul through her lower body and abdomen, feeding it mana through her fingertips to make the soul bond to her easier. Several minutes of panting and grunting later, she succeeded. The process was painful, to say the least. But she supposed that conception and sexual intercourse was no different.

Paying one last look of respect, she caressed the boy's hair before leaving. She still had enough magic in her to save one more person.

* * *

><p>He had almost given up hope.<p>

His cries met no response. The people he found were already dead. His search was one of desperation, and it grew with each passing minute.

It was cruel irony at its finest. The people he had tried so hard to save were the ones that died, and Kotomine, the man he had just killed, was somehow standing before him with Archer.

He didn't care anymore. He just knew growing despair, questioning if everything he had done was actually worth all the death he caused.

And so, just when he was ready to put a bullet into his head, he heard it.

"Is there anyone there? Please help this boy!"

Someone… was still alive?

Renewed with adrenaline, he dashed ahead to the voice; a lone woman kneeling next to a boy in the middle of the destroyed city, a light blue glow emitting from her hands. Was she a magus? A spellcaster? He didn't care to know, only that the boy in her arms wasn't moving.

As he ran closer, she looked up to him. For some reason, she looked like a classical storybook wizard. Her long green dress and white shoulder cape were blackened by the ash, as was her pale face and auburn hair. In her hands was a crystal blue staff, twirled just below the hooked tip that bathed the boy in light.

"You there!" she cried, sounding relieved at his arrival. "This boy needs help!"

He knelt at the boy's side, opposite to her. Whatever magic this was, it was not powerful enough to cleanse the Grail's curse completely. "Don't you have spells stronger than this?"

She looked surprised for a moment. "You can-?" Whatever she meant to say, she stopped herself. "No, this is the best I can offer. But his soul is almost gone."

No, he couldn't let this one slip. If he couldn't save just one person in this tragedy he caused, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Everyone he loved, and everyone he had sacrificed would have died for nothing. But for the life of him, he couldn't think of anything to do. The only magecraft he knew was his Time spell, and Iri was the only one versed in healing.

Wait. There was _one _thing. And frankly, the more he thought about it, he wasn't going to need it anymore.

Without warning, he dug both of his hands into his chest. A golden light opened from within, and nearly blinded both adults. The light gradually faded, and in his hands was a beautifully crafted sheath of the most brilliant gold and blue colors. Even now it still glowed and emitted its own warm radiance.

Then, as if casually disregarding the majestic gift, he placed it over the boy's body, merging it inside him. A similar light shined from the insertion, until no trace of it remained. The entire time the woman stared at him, baffled and mystified.

The boy suddenly coughed. He was suddenly stirring with new life, provided by the sheath's healing properties.

"Thank goodness," the woman sighed in relief.

"He's alive," he smiled, eyes glistening. He hugged the boy tightly, relief washing over him. Thank god, he was alive!

* * *

><p>Several days passed since the fire. There were no other reported survivors, and the boy, Shirou, had no living relatives. She only knew this because she stayed at the same hospital to report herself for pregnancy. The nurses told her she was fortunate that her baby was safe, and gave her all the information she needed to know for the following trimesters of childbirth.<p>

She had already decided on a name for the child, thanks to the nurses; she expected a boy, as he would be Shadar's soul mate, so he would be named Oliver. He will be a beautiful, young boy to make her new life fruitful, and bring peace to everyone around him. And whether should they meet or not, he would save Shadar. She knew that for a fact. She would _make it_ fact.

When she finally gained enough strength to walk, she decided to see Shirou and wish him well. To her surprise, the man was also there waiting to see him. He wore the same dark trench coat over an equally dark suit and pants. Everything about him was dark, from the hair to the clothes and even the blank stare in his eyes. He had the look of a trained killer, but his spirit was gone. He was brokenhearted, but Shadar couldn't have had a hand in this, could he?

She sat in the spare seat next to the man. He didn't react at all to her, so she was surprised when he suddenly said, "I thought he was yours."

"I'm sorry?" she asked him.

"The boy. Shirou. I believed him to be your son."

Her son? It must have been convincing since they shared a similar hair color. It was by luck that she found him in time and healed him enough for the man to use some magical artefact to save his life.

"No, he's not," I told him honestly. "I don't think anyone else survived that fire."

The man's brow furrowed slightly. "I see."

Another silence passed between them. He seemed to be a man that barely spoke his mind and it did little to ease her slight anxiety. She couldn't even think of how to ask him how she saw her magic the night of the fire. Wasn't magic from her world invisible to non-wizards in other worlds? Then again, could he be a wizard himself?

It must have been the fact they were completely alone in the hallway, but he saw fit to ask her first; "Are you a magus?"

The terminology was different, but she supposed he knew well enough. "In my world, we prefer wizard, or sage."

He turned to her, showing slight surprise. "Your world?"

She hesitated. He showed a bit of apprehension of her being from a different world, and may not take well to knowing where she'd come from. Still, wizards always tell the truth, and he already knew she was a wizard. What difference did it matter to reveal this to him?

"My world," she answered. "I came here from another world."

He blinked. "You expect me to believe you can easily cast the Second Magic and travel between worlds?"

It was her turn to blink, but her confusion clearly showed at her head tilting to the side. "Gateway is the _first_ spell listed in the Wizard's Companion. Even a child with magical potential could cast it."

His expression didn't change, but she could sense his incredulous disbelief in her words. Then he sighed and looked away. "The Wizard Marshall would get a kick out of this."

Before she could ask what he meant, a nurse walked up to them. "Emiya-san? Sage-san? You can visit Shirou-chan now."

The nurse quickly led them to the boy's room. He was still bandaged up and bedridden, only one of his eyes and a portion of his brick red hair were visible. The standard hospital gown had replaced his burnt clothes. His gloomy expression instantly brightened upon seeing his visitors.

"Good to see you're doing well," she smiled, to which Shirou nodded.

"I'll ask you directly," the man started, stepping forward. "Which would you prefer? To go to an orphanage, or to be adopted by someone you never met before?"

He received surprised stares from both listeners, surprised at the offer he had made. "Are… you a relative?" the child asked.

He shook his head. "Just a stranger, like this woman."

"I have a name, you know," she told him, but only in teasing. She could understand now why he asked if the two were related, but could he really take care of him on his own? Perhaps she could raise him instead? She knew that her own child was due within the year, but she couldn't imagine this boy on his own.

Shirou didn't need much time to think of his answer. "I wish to be adopted."

The man nodded, satisfied, and started packing what was left of his things from the fire. After a minute of watching him carelessly throw things in the spare duffel bag, she scolded him of doing a poor job before snatching the bag and taking over.

"Honestly," she sighed. "Are all wizards in this world so careless?"

The boy caught wind of the word of mouth, somewhat mystified. "Wizards?"

She hadn't meant to say that out loud. He hadn't expected to have the reveal happen at all. The tense moment continued, until the man regarded the boy seriously. "I forgot to mention something important. If you want to live with me, there's something you should know."

At the boy's hesitant nod, he continued. "My name is Kiritsugu Emiya, and I'm a sorcerer." His real title was the Magus Killer, but that was a life he would never follow again. He had never been a true magus, but someone who used magic as a tool to further his goals.

Again he had surprised his audience; the boy was filled with child-like wonder from the serious tone he carried, and she was suddenly glad to have met a fellow wizard in a new world. It made sense, considering what he did to save the boy's life.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed, to his slight annoyance. Well, as long as he was being honest… "Oh, and I'm the great wizard Alicia Sage." She had originally just went by the title of "Alicia the Sage", but between her delirious state of low magic and this world's custom of having a given name and a family name, it sort of stuck to the nurses that misheard her. She honestly liked the new name, all things considered.

Shirou, who stared blankly between both acclaimed magicians, could only think of one thing to say: "Wow, you're awesome."

It was the terrific start to the peaceful new days for Kiritsugu and Alicia.

* * *

><p>AN: Another new story? Well, sort of. This is a two piece I wrote over the course of last month and decided to share here with a premise in mind: two single parents meeting together to help raise the other child. In this case, Kiritsugu and Alicia, or rather Allie (SPOILERS!).

The next part will be up in a few days following this, so keep a look out for it.


	2. Give to the Night

Disclaimer: Fate/Zero is property of Kinoko Nasu and Type Moon. Ni no Kuni is property of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

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><p>Part Two: Give to the Night<p>

"So this is where you live."

Kiritsugu didn't need to look to see Alicia sitting next to him on the house deck. He didn't hear her at all walking over, but he was too busy drowning out the noise and easing his mind from the nagging pain in his body. He didn't think the Grail was serious about cursing him for rejecting its hand of a wish, but the proof was now evident. Unless he found some way to stop his circuits from deteriorating-

"Kiritsugu?"

He felt her hand on his shoulder, slightly shaking him. He pretended to jolt awake, to direct his thoughts away and to avoid worrying her. He was, however, taken back by her choice of attire; a white winter jacket similar to one of Iri's. Suddenly, the "otherworldly" wizard giggled as if his face was amusing.

He found himself more troubled hearing her laughter than necessary. It reminded him too much of Iri.

As her giggles ceased, she turned and watched a team of workers help refurbish the house behind them. It was a traditional Japanese home, just on the outskirts of town, but was originally more of a base than a living arrangement. He happened to rent it from Raiga Fujimura as a favor, after the original base was destroyed by opposing Servant-Master teams. But now the war was over, and despite his original plan, he bought it in full, with some interior decorating as a bonus (Raiga insisted).

"It seems Shirou is adapting well here," Alicia said, her gaze now following to the young boy delivering planks of wood to the workers. "He must be excited for the new house."

Of course the boy was excited; he wouldn't have liked living in an orphanage waiting for someone to decide to adopt him, if ever. Still, Kiritsugu saw a bit of himself in Shirou; a young boy who had lost everything he'd ever known. Natalia had offered him a home, and he took it like a lifeline. He knew Natalia would have approved of his decision, despite how little she had shown affection.

They watched in silence as Shirou walked back and forth with planks of wood, stopping once when he accidentally hit an older girl upside the head. "Oh dear," said Alicia. "I hope it's not serious."

Not likely; Raiga's daughter was perpetual energy itself, and a smack from a piece of wood wouldn't really hurt her. It would, however, invoke wrath on the principle of the matter. She yelled at him, he apologized, and after making a polite bow to a resting worker, forcibly lifted one of the ends of the planks Shirou was carrying. She pointed him to move to the other end, and they worked together on her charisma. Taiga certainly took a lot after her father.

Alicia turned back to Kiritsugu. Her spirits were still high, but it was clear from her blank look she was annoyed. "You don't talk much, do you?"

The magus shrugged and finally replied, "Only if it's important." He felt no reason to make obvious observations when Alicia was already doing it.

She was surprised to finally get a verbal response, though looked suddenly uncertain of herself. She turned away and blushed, brushing some strands of hair over her ear. "Ah, well, I'll just get right to it, then. It's a little embarrassing. This house is… spacious, yes?"

He nodded.

"Enough to fit a large family if needed?"

He nodded, and was starting to understand where this line of questioning was going.

"Well, I have a baby expected to come in several months' time, so I was hoping if… Kiritsugu, will you please allow me to stay?"

It was as he thought. "Not interested."

"I can pay you!" she added quickly, though deflated right after. "Well, I _would_ but this world doesn't take Guilders, and there's no means of working for Yen without identification or proof I exist, as the police told me."

Well, she was taking this otherworldly situation of hers seriously, he'd give her that. "Doesn't matter," he answered. "I'm… infamous to the magi world, and I've failed something important. Something I hoped would have been my last job. Now all I want to do is live the rest of my days in peace, and without anyone knowing of my whereabouts."

Alicia's gaze softened in understanding. But she persisted. "What does that have to do with me?"

"You're not from here," he said; plain enough to mean "this city", but discreet enough to imply "this world".

"We already established that, yes," she nodded.

"Your spells might be simple back there, but that kind of talent is _rare_ here," he stressed. "Word gets out, and you'll have associates from the Clocktower hounding you down for a Sealing Designation."

"And that is…?"

Kiritsugu paused, unsure how to explain it. "Best case scenario, you'd be under careful watch to see how you further your research. Worst case, you'd be incarcerated-"

"WHAT?!"

All the workers stopped, including Shirou and Taiga, and turned to the startled and standing Alicia. Red in embarrassment, she sat herself down with her face lowered, and everyone resumed working.

"You'd be incarcerated," Kiritsugu said again, softly. "To help preserve your condition perfectly and used as research material."

"They have no right to do that," she growled hotly.

"A Sealing Designation isn't given out unless the talent of magecraft is beyond gaining through mere research. Often times, it's so potentially dangerous magi don't go around slaughtering humans as guinea pigs."

Alicia's head shot up to him. Her expression was somewhere between disbelief and horror. "They… _hurt_ people?" she asked hesitantly.

Kiritsugu nodded. No body language gave away how disgusted he was at this. Rather, the lack of reaction told her how he had accepted this horrible truth. Hell, even the magi that issue the Sealing Designations don't make them out of consideration for the non-magi; they just want to help keep magecraft a secret by killing the ones actively endangering it.

She turned her gaze back down, teeth clenched and knuckles white. Her body shook in tension over this revelation. "That's just wrong," she said. "Wizards are meant to help and protect people. I understand the merits of research, but what's the point if you can't use magic for its intended purpose?"

To a magus, nothing is more important than their research. It also disgusted him to see a casual disregard of human life from these kinds of people, even from his own father. In this short talk, Kiritsugu felt a strong sense of kinship unlike any he ever had. It was startling in its simplicity; she understood.

He coughed for her attention, suddenly embarrassed of what he planned to say next. "W-well, I suppose the Magus Association wouldn't worry _too _much about the dangers of your magecraft should it ever come to that," he admitted. "But I still prefer to keep to myself and avoid attention."

The wizard blinked. Then realization dawned and she nodded. "You wouldn't even know I'm there!"

"And now that I think about it," he said as he watched Shirou work again. "There is _one_ way you could pay me."

"Name it!"

"How would you like to be Shirou's new 'nanny'?" he asked rhetorically. Honestly, he didn't expect Alicia to accept, but her sly smile said otherwise.

* * *

><p>"Keep the stove hot now. That's it, now stir it gently…"<p>

Shirou nodded curtly at her instruction, eyes focused on the pot in front of him. Alicia, well into her second trimester, watched him work from the table while drinking her coffee and cream.

Shirou had been excited to know they would all be living together (and had assumed Kiritsugu and Alicia were dating, of all things). Shirou wasn't the only person to mistake the two adults as a couple either, but Kiritsugu was quick to remind everyone that asked he already had a wife; emphasis on "had"_._ That was all he said and what needed to be said.

Things were troubling for Alicia as well, for she didn't exist in this world. In theory, she probably had a soul mate somewhere in this world, but she had irreversibly cut ties with it the moment she had cast Breach Time. Even though the time jump was five years at best, that was still five years her soul mate lived without her and felt the absence of her presence. She feared her soul mate may have died, but Shadar proved that wasn't entirely the case.

Regardless, Alicia Sage's soul mate was five years older than her now, and everyone in her world would either assume her to be dead or captured by Shadar. As long as that tentative lie is in place, she can raise Oliver and Shirou without any problems.

Shirou then stopped stirring and turned to her. "Uba-san?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"When are you going to teach me magic?"

Well, except for one.

Ever since they told him their secret, he started asking both adults to teach him magic. Kiritsugu always said no when asked. He never even explained why, but his tone made it clear he wouldn't budge on the subject.

But Shirou was stubborn and hopeful, and would always ask the following day. Alicia admired his spirit enough that she was willing to be his teacher, despite the fact he would want to learn from Kiritsugu instead.

"After the baby comes," she assured him, gesturing to her swollen abdomen.

"You always say that," he pouted.

"Yes, but it won't be long now. Just be patient and keep stirring."

"Can't you ask dad to teach me?" he asked, as he resumed stirring.

"I'll talk to him," she promised, and he happily resumed cooking.

Later that night, after putting Shirou to bed, she followed through on her promise. Kiritsugu had left that day for preparations of some sort, but refused to elaborate what. He was always so secretive that it  
>was starting to become infuriating. Still, it was really none of her business.<p>

She took a calming breath, before knocking on the side of his room door. "Kiritsugu, may I come in?"

A short pause and then, "You may."

She gently slid the door open, having better luck as of late than on her first day. Everything was so different in this world compared to her own. While it was true not everyone could use magic, there was never such paranoia of keeping it secret from the people. But even she had to admit, the technological marvels from normal humans were extraordinary, from their communication devices to transportation vehicles. She envied the magicians of this world for having so many possibilities open to them.

Kiritsugu, however, remained someone she could never quite get pegged. She spotted him sitting at the edge of his futon with the same stoic expression since the hospital. He was pretty much her opposite in every way; where she was friendly, positive and outgoing, he was cautious, critical and introverted.

Still, she knew he had a kind heart, he just didn't know how to show it. For now, that was enough for her.

"I wanted to ask you something," she started. She knew Kiritsugu didn't like beating around the bush. About Shirou-"

"I'm not going to teach him."

She had expected the dismissal, just not so quickly. He didn't even look at her, and was walking over to the window on the opposite side of the room, with his back to her. Was there anything that kept this man's undivided attention?

"You can't keep dodging the issue," she tried again.

"There's no issue," he spoke in his calm, yet distant tone. "I'm not going to teach him. It's that simple"

"Can you at least explain why?"

"Would you teach your own child magic?"

Silence, and then, "Yes."

Finally Kiritsugu turned to her, surprised. Honestly, Alicia was surprised herself. She knew his rhetorical question was meant to throw her off, and on all counts it should have. But she was always an impulsive wizard, acting on the fly whenever the situation called for it. Deciding to use Breach Time to find Shadar's soul mate was no different.

"I would teach him, if he so wanted to," she explained. "I would love nothing more than to share my world and magic with him. To watch as he would feed his first familiar, to read to him the Twelve Tales of Wonder, to see his eyes light up as he drew his first spell runes. But most of all, I want to show him every corner of the world I live in, from my home in Ding Dong Dell to the mountain views among Peridia."

Somewhere in her monologue, her voice cracked, and her eyes started to moisten. It might have been the mood swings or her innermost dreams of having a family of her own, but it made her realize just how irreversible a time jump from five years can be. "But I can't go back, even if I wanted to. My world, my time… it's lost to me now."

Alicia choked a few sobs, fighting the urge to breakdown. Kiritsugu didn't move or say anything. He merely watched her, but it was comforting in its own way.

"I failed something important as well," she sniffed. "I'm in hiding from someone powerful and dangerous. As far as he knows, I'm still gone or non-existent, for now."

Kiritsugu nodded. In a moment of silence, Alicia bowed to him and quietly excused herself from his room. After returning to her own, she silently berated herself. She meant to talk about Shirou, and instead had gotten homesick. She never considered teaching her soon-to-be-born son Oliver about magic or her home world, but it was a pleasant dream, all things considered.

* * *

><p>A year… it has almost been a year since the end of the last Holy Grail War.<p>

"Awwww, he's so cute, Sage-san! Can I hold him?"

Maiya Hisau and Irisviel Einzbern gave their lives for his dream… and it was for nothing.

"No fair, Fuji-nee. I want to hold him too."

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Iri was supposed to help grant his wish. The world was supposed to be in peace at last. He was supposed to be playing with his daughter Ilya.

"Be nice, you two. And do be quiet; you'll wake him up."

Kiritsugu broke his train of thought and gazed back up. From his seat at the far end of the room, he saw Taiga and Shirou leaning over Alicia's bed. In her arms she was cradling her new baby. Oliver, she called him.  
><em><br>"She's so cute."_

He rose up and walked to the door. He had no place here.

"Kiritsugu," Alicia called out to him. "Don't you want to hold Oliver?"

"I'm not his father," he replied back.

"You can still be a part of his life," she insisted. "At least look at him."

She parted the baby away from her breast and turned his face in his direction. Oliver's eyes were still shut, and his mouth parted slightly for milk. He had a small patch of brick red hair, darker than Alicia's own auburn. He looked so small, innocent and light-

Just like Illya.

Images of her flashed in his mind. Images of how their short time together came to an end on the eve of the Holy Grail War. Images of all the games they played like counting chestnut buds. Images of pressing his gun under her chin-

"I'm sorry." And with that, he left the room.

He was sorry for many things. Sorry for betraying Irisviel for another woman; sorry for not sharing this moment with Maiya, who wanted nothing more than to feel important to him; sorry for hiding away in Fuyuki instead of going straight to Illya; sorry for killing everyone he had ever known and loved in a dream that was doomed to fail.

He was even sorry for Alicia, of all things. She was pure and innocent like Illya, but at least her life wasn't predetermined to die for someone else's sake.

He returned home early and had made his decision. Alicia would be spending the next week at the hospital resting, and he thought it best not to go visit her and possibly only to upset her. He had waited long enough as it is. It was time to see Illya again.

In one travel bag, he carried his essentials, mainly clothes. The other: spare guns and weapons from the War. He'd need to call another favor from Raiga to smuggle these out, but he could only hope he had enough in him for this. Rather, he hoped he didn't need to use anything from the second bag, but better safe than sorry.

He considered running away and never looking back. He wouldn't stop until Illya was finally rescued, and when that happened he'd hid away forever from the magi world until the day he died. Shirou would be happier in Alicia's care than his. He might even get to be the kind of magician he wanted to be, where he look at himself in the mirror and think of all of his accomplishments instead of all his faults. And maybe, just so Illya isn't alone, he can write his will to give custody to Alicia.

Alicia… why did she try to include him in Oliver's life? Why did she ask him to teach Shirou magecraft? Why does she keep trying to get his opinion on every small topic she made to him?

Why does Alicia Sage act so different, and yet so _similar,_ to Kiritsugu Emiya?

He stood rigid in thought the last hour in his room, trying to wrestle with these growing doubts. The epiphany wasn't instant, but a gradual process of insight that led to one conclusion: if he left solely to bring Illya back, he would still be abandoning someone he loved. In this case, everyone in Fuyuki.

And so, a single note was left on his door:

_I apologize in advance for the inconvenience, but something has come up. It requires my attention for the next few weeks. I hope to return by next month, so Shirou, Taiga; please take care of Alicia while I'm away._  
><em><br>Oliver too._  
><em><br>-Kiritsugu_

* * *

><p>Alicia always thought of herself as a patient, temperate sage, but even living two years with Kiritsugu was starting to get to her.<p>

She never did forgive him for leaving without warning the day after Oliver was born. She was just as sad and worried as Shirou and Taiga were, but for their sakes she hid her own anxiety and assured them he would return.

When Kiritsugu _did _show his face again, he was two weeks later than he said he would return. She slapped him, yelled all sorts of atrocities, but he seemed to nod her off. Something on his trip must have happened to upset him, but he wouldn't even explain where he had gone and why.

Friends and neighbors called it a lover's spat, but Alicia denied the case yet again. All it did was amuse them with an eye-roll or two. Not that she gave them a lot of thought in the end. Her attention was solely focused on taking care of Oliver, which in turn left Shirou to grow aloof and self-dependent. Taiga all but became an unofficial sister to him, which was a godsend in her eyes. She also somehow convinced Kiritsugu to start training him in magecraft.

And living with him these last few years wasn't without rewards. He helped her adjust into Fuyuki City as a legal citizen and she could finally leave the house on her own. After some job searching, she had found herself a place in the city choir, and found herself invested in it as a hobby.

She was still cross with the man, though. And she thought Supreme Sage Solomon was an insufferable little brat…

She was so stuck on thinking of ways to hate Kiritsugu, no matter how superficial, that she wasn't fully aware of her surroundings as she was rushing to choir. Because of this, she ended up bumping into and nearly tripping over a girl in front.

"Oh!" she cried, but quickly righted herself up before she fell down. "I'm terribly sorry!"

"I'm fine," was the soft reply. Alicia looked up from her bow to see a purple haired girl about Shirou's age, dressed in a school uniform. But the moment they made eye contact, she paled.

This girl…

Alicia had seen brokenheartedness, before. She could never forget how it happened to her stepfather and master Roan. Shadar had been the first known wizard to forcibly break the rules of keeping hearts in balance by lack of a heart virtue, like enthusiasm or kindness. But this girl was so critically imbalanced she had no personality for herself. It would be a miracle if this girl wasn't possessed by a Nightmare already.

No… she was already possessed by something worse; _far_ worse than a mere Nightmare.

"Goodbye, then," the girl bowed politely, and resumed walking back. It was too subdued for the wizard's comfort, honestly.

Moments after watching the girl leave, Alicia fished her pockets for a jeweled locket with a heart-shaped stopper. Her locket, though never used anymore, was always kept close at hand, "just in case". It held no pieces of heart now, so even if she wanted to, she couldn't Give anything to the girl.

That raised another concern for her; Kiritsugu (curse the man) warned her not to use too much of her magic around others. Even if her magic couldn't be normally seen by non-magi, that would only raise more alarm bells concerning magi that do live here. Two prestigious families live here no less, and Kiritsugu had never told the "second owner" of his presence here. Political nonsense aside, she understood well enough that drawing attention to them wasn't worth the trouble.

Suddenly, the locket in her hand started to shine. As a holding place for excess pieces of hearts, it glowed whenever it sensed someone with a strong virtue. Sure enough, she saw a young teen jumping with joy further down the street with a wide smile. She assumed he was feeling enthusiastic, but he was walking away from a girl his own age. Love, perhaps?

Alicia smiled. Maybe it was time to see who else in Fuyuki City had too much or too little of heart pieces, and how far she could get away with doing so.

* * *

><p>It was after midnight when he arrived back in Fuyuki City. Like last time, he came back empty-handed and emotionally torn. The Bounded Fields of the Einzbern Castle were as impenetrable as before, despite coming prepared with his tools. He ended up wasting two months in the howling blizzards of Germany before leaving due to diminished rations and supplies.<p>

Anyone at this point would realize the futility of this endeavor; His magic circuits grew weaker with each passing month and made it only harder. What's more, he failed to keep his promise to come home within the month; Alicia was mad enough the first time this happened.

But Illya was still his daughter, already a teenager by now. Days spent without her and with Shirou and Oliver instead made him feel like he was betraying her. And in wasting so much time trying to rescue her, he was betraying the boys. It was a double life he never intended to happen.

He eventually arrived back to his estate, stopping rigid at the gate. With a heavy sigh, he walked through and gently opened the door with his shoes already off to avoid making as much noise as possible.

That's when he heard it.

_If I could only be with you once more,_  
><em>And hold you tightly to my heart…<em>

Curious, he found himself walking towards the source of the sound. He had never heard such wondrous singing before, and even now he felt calmer and relaxed than he had just coming back. He had to know who was singing.  
><em><br>We could walk this road together,  
>And never, ever be apart…<em>

Around the corner, he stopped and stared to see Alicia in Oliver's room. He could only guess that her son had woken up from a nightmare not unlike Shirou; she spoiled both boys too much in his opinion. But he could see that their love for her was very real. The growing toddler nuzzled close to her arms and neck, dropping softly as his mother sang. For a moment, his eyes widened as he saw Kiritsugu at the door, and smiled just before the warmth of sleep drew him in.

_Each and every heart will be healed,  
>On our journey through another world.<em>

Near the end of her lullaby, Alicia walked to Oliver's crib and gently put him to bed. He always thought she was good with kids considering how well Shirou and Taiga got along with her, but this was a side he had never seen before. But perhaps parental love comes in surprising leaps and bounds to everyone, like himself with Illya.

He turned to hurry back to his room and consider leaving Alicia to her thoughts for the rest of the night. But before he could make two steps, he heard the words; "You're late."

He let out a wince that sounded more like a grunt and curse at once. Turning back, he saw she was still facing the crib, and thus her back was to him. But she knew he was there, and he could read the body language well enough; she was mad. The soothing, gentle woman singing her boy a lullaby was gone in an instant.

Damn.

"Please," she said with a calm façade. "Have a drink with me. It's been a while since we talked."

There was something in her voice that made him wary; a slight edge that promised pain if he didn't listen. He fought back the urge to gulp, let alone showing signs of anxiety, and calmly followed her to the kitchen. Alicia poured each of them a cup of coffee, and they drank opposite from one another on the table in tense silence. Rather, she drank, while he stared at his mug in thought.

"Shirou almost died, you know," she finally said.

Kiritsugu's eyes widened in alarm, if only slightly. It was a small reaction, but had he been drinking his coffee when she said it, he would have spat it out of his mouth. "How?"

"It happened two weeks ago; Oliver followed Shirou to the old annex where he always practiced magic. Oliver starts crying, and I hurry over to find him shaking Shirou to wake up from the ground. He was burning hot with a fever, twitching, and nearly comatose. I had him rushed to the hospital that same day, and he was admitted there for the following three days."

She glared at him with an intensity he only saw once in the King of Knights. But Alicia wasn't Saber; honor wasn't keeping her from blasting him half-way across the room. Two children were. And in her eyes, Kiritsugu had committed a taboo.

"Imagine my surprise," she stated rhetorically. "When Shirou told me how you taught him how to turn his nervous system into magic circuits, where the feeling is like 'putting a hot metal rod directly into my spine'? That he had to create a new circuit every few weeks just to use magic? I ask you, Kiritsugu; what exactly was it that you were teaching him that led to this?"

Kiritsugu blinked. "You're asking me?"

"Who else is there to ask?" she rhetorically spread her arms out. "We both know Shirou has been enamored by magic ever since we first took him out of the hospital, and you were the one who taught him magecraft."

"But I never told him to turn his nerves into Magic Circuits."

"Shirou said you did."

"He must have heard wrong," he shrugged. "Because I told him he had to awaken his Circuits first. The process of opening magic circuits for the first time is painful, admittedly, but only once. Only an idiot would believe they would have to create magic circuits through their ner-"

He found himself cut short by Alicia's glare. Her usually gentle eyes were fierce and piercing, as if daring him to finish the sentence. A moment later, she took her cup with both hands and guzzled down her coffee. When she finally set it down (quite forcibly, even), she let out a soft but long breath before staring him in the eye.

"I don't know what's more infuriating: that you care so little about a boy's dream, or how you are indirectly responsible for almost killing him!"

As a killer, Kiritsugu was a stoic man of professionalism. Rarely did he ever show signs of emotion outside to those he loved and cherished. So to hear the wizard before him deliver an insult for endangering the same boy he saved, on the aftermath of the Holy Grail War… it wasn't much of a surprise that he shot up from his chair and yelled at her, the nearly spilled coffee mug ignored. "This isn't my fault!"

"It bloody well is!" Alicia fired back, unfazed by his outburst. "_You're _the one who taught Shirou how to use his Magic Circuits. Yet not only have you been so vague about it, but you're never there to help or teach him, even when you're home! This would be completely different if he was being taught a dangerous spell of some sort, but apparently he was learning magecraft _the wrong way by accident_ without you even bothering to notice. Tell me, exactly, _how_ this isn't _your fault?!"_

He didn't, or rather he couldn't. It would be a lie if he didn't hear people blame him for anything (the late Lord El-Melloi and the Grail itself came to mind), but they were almost always targets he needed to eliminate for his own goals. He had done things; deplorable things that if anyone would knew they would be disgusted by them.

He had killed his own father in cold blood, and Natalia was more upset with herself being forced to let him do it. He had exploited a loophole on his geass with El-Melloi and though Saber found it detestable, the Servant soldiered on. He admitted his entire life story to Iri and she loved him all the same.

Yet in fumbling in his time as a teacher to Shirou, let alone as a father figure, a woman he barely knew two and a half years ago was chewing his head off.

Kiritsugu grimaced. While he would admit that his carelessness had endangered Shirou, he felt Alicia was blowing it out of proportion and without understanding his perspective. "I never wanted him to be a magus," he stressed.

"Then I suppose this all fits your little ditty, doesn't it? 'To be a magus is to walk with death'?" Alicia asked with a dramatic wave of her arm; she had been there with Shirou when he stressed the standard risks of training. "Does that include trying to learn magic as well? Or creating circuits from your own nerves? Because in that logic, Shirou thought he was doing it right every time."

Kiritsugu tried to think of a proper response to that, but Alicia wasn't patient tonight. "He's a child. He hardly knows how magecraft works and trusts you, his teacher _and father,_ to make sure he's safe. _I _trusted you to make sure he's safe. But now with this, on top of you always off doing your 'important trips' and leaving me here to watch after him and Oliver… I'm not so sure anymore."

It was bad enough to lose Iri and Illya, but Shirou and Oliver as well? "I'll start over," he quickly offered, trying not to sound desperate. "I can teach him the correct way to open his circuits, and watch him every day he trains."

But Alicia shook her head. "If I had a say in this, it would be 'to hell with that' and I'd ban you from teaching magecraft ever again." Kiritsugu cringed. "But Shirou wants to keep learning magecraft, if only to try and put a wizard's perspective in this world after hearing the Tales of Wonder over and over again. I'm sure he'll be happy to know you'll be taking this more seriously."

Kiritsugu was relieved for the compromise, but also very confused. Not that he was happy for this, but given Alicia's behavior tonight, he thought she'd be more… hostile regarding magecraft. "After everything that happened, you're actually allowing me to train him again?"

"I've never understood much of the way of Magi," she sighed. "But if there was anything this incident has taught me, it's that we agree on the same thing. I… don't want Shirou to be a magus either. He and Oliver, they're kind and pure souls that are rare to come by. If either one of them becomes a magus, it means having to sacrifice those heart pieces of themselves just to fit in. Sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake blurting out that word in front of him."

She had nothing else to say, and he didn't know what to say. Only the therapeutic guzzling of coffee mugs felt appropriately mutual as a response. For Kiritsugu, it was more reflection on his life till now. He shared many of Alicia's fears, but his biggest was watching Shirou repeat his life story. He had tried to avoid that, but Shirou's stubbornness and his own carelessness had resulted in too much damage being done. And in trying to salvage what little of a bond he had left to Illya, he was alienating himself towards Oliver. As Taiga would put it, "this sucks".

"They don't have to be," he said, struck with an epiphany.

"What do you mean?"

"If either one of them wants to follow in our footsteps, they at least deserve to know what being a magus or wizard really means."

* * *

><p>Alicia decided she didn't like the magus world.<p>

If there was a key difference between their styles of magic, it was how they treated it. Magi took their art seriously; perhaps even more so than the greatest of sages. Because of the universal magic spells being shared among more magi loses "mystery" and thus power, many magi were determined to branch out and learn and create new spells. In a way, it made them stronger and more unique than the wizards of her world that shared the same library of spells. But instead of working together and helping others, the magi kept their findings, and the power, to themselves. In fact, they would dedicate entire generations to perfecting spells in their family line, hoping to get closer in the perpetual and like-minded rat race that was the Root of the World.

A wizard, on the other hand, treated magic more as a gift than a privilege. Maybe it's also true in her world that each wizard knowing the same spell has its potential grow weaker, but becoming a wizard was never a decision about power anyway. Spells that would otherwise be called "useless" like the Reinforcement school would obviously be frowned upon, but it's not the power of the spell that matters; it's how to use it. Of course, the wizards of her world weren't all paragons of this ideology if history was any indicator. The Wizard Wars, the fall of Nazcaä, and Shadar were just a few examples of wizards using magic for the wrong reasons.

Kiritsugu may never associate himself with other magi, but he too only sought results and cared little about anything less. It wasn't a very good thing to teach Shirou… or any spellcaster for that matter, wizard or magi. Although she didn't deny there were benefits to studying more spells that could break the boundaries of old rules, she doubted she would ever see that as good enough reasoning to their rat race.

She was glad, however, that Kiritsugu showed the willingness to compromise. His plan of explaining both lifestyles was actually very fair, as it allowed both boys to decide what they really wanted. She was also thankful that Kiritsugu stuck true to his word and no nerve mishaps had happened since.

Today she would read to Shirou and Oliver once more from the Wizard's Companion. Copies of these books were rare but they were the essential "how-to" guide for any wizard (she shuddered to think what such a book for Magi would look like). It contained not just the Tales of Wonder she read to them, but detailed graphs on all three pillars of wizardry: a list of spells, alchemy formulae, and the many types of familiars.

"I'm sure as Kiritsugu told you," she told both boys in the Bounded Field confines of the dojo. "Familiars that the magi use are often created from small animals with an implanted prana signature." They nodded, and she continued. "For wizards, it's a bit different, as they have two ways of acquiring familiars. The first and most simple way is through the spell 'Form Familiar'."

With her blue wand-staff, she drew the runes in the air; first a sideways V, and then a single line cutting it through vertically. The projected rune flashed white before vanishing.

"Nothing happened," Shirou asked after a moment's pause.

"That's because I already used the spell," she smiled, and pulled out a small cage that fit in the palm of her hand.

Next thing the boys knew, a strange creature popped out from the latch of the cage, surrounded in a blue transparent sphere. The creature looked like a dark blue blob with tiny suction cups for both its hands and ears, staring back at the boys with its pointed face and scowling blue eyes. The most interesting fact was the blue flower-thing with pointed petal ends that supported its body and somehow moved with it.

"This is Leif. I raised him myself since he was first a Bubbud. He may not look like it, but he's very friendly."

Leif extended its pointed limb to the boys. Shirou slowly extended his own hand and gave a firm handshake.

Oliver giggled and did the same. "Hi Leif!" he said.

"As you can see," Alicia continued. "This familiar was born from my heart due to the spell. But familiars can be born from anything with a heart, even plants or machines. It's not uncommon to see them roaming around the outside world, after all."

Alicia then gestured to Kiritsugu from the side of the dojo, and he reluctantly walked over holding a plate of banana flan. She had personally tried the treat herself one day when she realized this world had "bananas" with a second "n" instead of "babanas" with a second "b". Where she tasted no difference, she wanted to see if Leif, who loved eating flan treats, would.

"It's always important to treat familiars with warmth and affection," she explained after receiving the dessert. "This kindness can also extend to serenading unbound creatures around the world into your own familiars. Of course, the most important thing to remember is to name your familiar."

"Name?" Both boys asked aloud. Even Kiritsugu, who only blinked, looked confused at the prospect.

"Of course," she nodded. "A wizard's familiar isn't treated like a tool or servant like the magi equivalent. Naming a familiar shows the willingness for a wizard, or even a non-wizard, to make a mutual bond between both groups. Giving them their favorite treats helps as well."

She set the plate of flan down and allowed Leif to hover/hob over to it. After a few sniffs, it happily gobbled down the dessert with as much love as any babana flan.

"I want a wizard's familiar!" Shirou grinned.

"Me too! Me too!" Oliver cheered.

"I'm afraid you're too young to start spell casting, Oliver," Alicia smiled sadly. "But you can play with Leif if you want. Just watch for the petals."

The toddler easily complied, settling with a game of tag with his temporary playmate. With her son happily distracted, and showing a level of multitasking worthy of a sage, she turned to Shirou with her Wizard's Companion open. "Now remember Shirou: you need to keep your mind focused as you draw the runes, and always draw the black figure _before_ the red."

"Yes, ubasan," Shirou nodded, and pulled out his loaned wand; a small rod with a simple gemstone embedded on top that Alicia herself kept as a child. He calmly exhaled, muttering to himself something that sounded like "Trace… On" and started drawing. His prana control was precise, and he drew the runes carefully through the air. At the end of his second line…

Nothing. The rune faded and no glow emitted from his heart.

"Try again," she offered. "The runes have to be precise and the wand held tight till the end, or else the spells won't work."

Shirou did so, while Alicia took careful notice at his technique this time. She knew he had the prana for it. His rune was accurate as well. Surely it would work this time?

Alas, no familiar came. The rune just vanished without fanfare, leaving behind disappointment.

"Perhaps he has a limited skill set for this school of magic as well?" Kiritsugu offered. "Or can't cast rune spells at all?"

I almost snapped at him for that. Every wizard could at least conjure their own familiar, no matter how weak. Shirou had been training with his Reinforcement skills so he was no mere beginner, and his reflection came back inverted on the Wizard's Companion's cover jewel. This magic wasn't simply about adapting to something else. Form Familiar is the _first_ spell written on the book, for Horace's sake!

So why can't Shirou make his own familiar?

"But Shirou-nii _can_ draw runes! He showed me!"

Everyone turned to Oliver, halfway across the dojo with Leif. "You saw him draw runes?" Kiritsugu asked.

"_Alone_?" Alicia added.

Oliver nodded. "It was a really neat one, too!"

Shirou looked away, embarrassed and worried about getting in trouble again. After the annex incident, Alicia enforced the rule of no magic practice unless either magic adult was present.

She decided to delay any punishment in favor of finding out what Oliver was talking about. "Which spell, sweetie?"

"It was, uh… Va… vom-"

"Just show us then, if it's too hard to pronounce."

Oliver rushed over to the tome, sloppily turning pages with the flat of his palm as he stared at the rune drawings. With each page Alicia grew worried as the later spells were advanced and more dangerous if used irresponsibly. Finally, he stopped and pointed. "There, that one!"

Alicia blinked. "Vanish? Are you sure he didn't use 'Veil'?" Alicia asked as she turned the page herself to the 14th rune, with a diagram of two similarly drawn triangular flags with the left sketch flipped and mirrored opposite to the right counterpart.

"Uh huh," Oliver said, turning the page back. "I remember what Shirou-nii drew because it looked like a box."

Indeed, the Vanish rune, deceivingly simple with two ninety degree runes forming a perfect square, minus the edges extending the upper left and lower right corners. Shirou was also nodding at Oliver's insistence, proving him to be telling the truth… or that both of them were in an elaborate prank.

"That's impossible," Alicia reasoned. "Veil and Vanish are similar in nature of hiding, whether it's from conjuring a thick fog or turning invisible respectively. But the major difference is that Vanish is a fairy spell, and can only be cast by fairies."

Kiritsugu blinked. "Fairies?"

"But he _did_, mom!" Oliver whined. "I know he did! He can prove it too! Right, Shirou-nii?"

Shirou, for his part, was still trying to vanish from peering eyes without the use of the spell. "I-it's nothing great. I can only make myself transparent."

"Show us." It must have been something in Kiritsugu's urging, because Shirou stopped fidgeting and gripped his wand again. Alicia held her breath as he started to draw the boxed rune. In no time, the runes flashed away, and Shirou along with them.

Well, almost. As the boy said, he only managed to make himself transparent enough to look like a ghost.

The semi-invisible boy squirmed uneasily at the silence, and even Oliver didn't know how to take either adult's silence. "I guess I did this one wrong too. Sorry, I'm not very-"

Whatever self-depreciative thing he meant to say, Alicia didn't let him finish. She instantly dropped to his height and hugged him tight. Leif, who represented her truest self, jumped out of its spiked flower and hugged his leg from behind.

Shirou had successfully cast a spell.

A _fairy_ spell.

She didn't care about the details, such as how incomplete his Vanish was or how he could even cast it in the first place. Those could wait. All that was important was to let Shirou take as much pride in this as she was feeling right now.

"I'm so proud of you, sweetie."

It would be some moments later before Shirou would return the hug in earnest.

* * *

><p>"Avalon."<p>

That was Kiritsugu's answer, as if it explained everything. Alicia wasn't satisfied with that. "And what exactly _is _Avalon? Is it a special ability? A spell in your world? His true name? What?"

It had been hours since magic training. The boys had been put to bed, and the adults were sitting along the engawa. Kiritsugu came first for a smoke (a habit he had been trying to cut back on since the end of the War) and Alicia found him, subsequently trying to ask for his opinion.

Out of all 52 known spells of the Wizard's Companion, Shirou was (theoretically) able to learn thirteen of them. It was a small number compared to other magi or wizards, but to cast spells once exclusive to the fey was nothing to sneeze at. It was no wonder Alicia was so animated at this discovery.

Kiritsugu allowed the silence of lighting his cigarette to think things over. Honestly, he had forgotten what happened to Avalon, or at least tried to. But Alicia wasn't the only one astonished by Shirou's choice of magic, and it got him thinking. He considered not saying anything, but he had known Alicia long enough to trust her.

"It's a sheath," he said, and lit his cigarette. He stopped himself again to lightly puff off a cloud of smoke.

"You mean what you put inside Shirou during the fire?" she asked.

Kiritsugu nodded. This saved time explaining things. "For the sake of simplicity, I'll avoid the technical terms, but Avalon is a rare and potent artifact from an age long ago. It was technically lost until… some benefactors found it for me to help them with my last job.

"Like all artifacts, its power is directed from its age and legend. In Avalon's case, it's a sheath that can grant the user limited immortality of eternal youth, and heals them from fatal wounds." In hindsight, it must have been what saved Shirou from the incident. Alicia's brightened expression implied that she realized this as well.

"That still doesn't explain why he can cast Vanish," she pointed out.

"Avalon was crafted by the faeries of this world long ago as a gift to the hero who used it. If Avalon was able to miraculously revive Shirou and changed his…" he struggled to think of a proper alternative for Origin. "-magic nature, it's not that unlikely to think it allowed him to cast fairy magic."

This could also mean that Shirou now had amazing skill in the select branches of magic due to Avalon's influence. The obvious downside, however, is that he still had a limited skill set, even among wizards. Kiritsugu would have to make more changes in Shirou's magecraft training for this.

Alicia turned to him with a suddenly critical look. "What exactly was your last job?"

Kiritsugu stared back at her. She had never asked before, so why now?

"Don't get me wrong, but you don't strike me as the scholarly type, and the power implies more of a potential to fight in a war than save a life. If magi are just as close-minded and greedy as you've told me, the benefactors would have never given it to you unless it was for something else important in return. So I'll ask again: what was your last job and why did it involve Avalon?"

He had forgotten how astute and articulate she was. "I don't recall you explaining why you ran away to this world either."

"I told you – I failed something important."

"I believe I gave a similar answer."

Alicia had the decency to blush and turn away. "It's… well, okay, I see where you're coming from. But I didn't mean to disrespect you. I'm honestly glad you were the magus I ran into upon coming to this world."

The chirping of crickets echoed undisturbed in the night.

"Tell you what: we'll tell stories to each other. I'll explain why I left my world if you tell me what your last job was. Deal?"

He sighed and pulled out his wallet. Inside was one of the few mementoes of a happier time he had lost. No… bittersweet. He had always known that it would end in tragedy, but he tried putting it off as long as possible, hoping that the wish would be worth the sacrifice.

He knew no one could replace Iri; Maiya had been "training" for the moment and he still loved Iri even now. But it was because Alicia, Shirou, Oliver, and even Taiga showed him happiness that he decided to tell her everything, especially if she was willing to meet him halfway.

"It's going to be a long story," he warned vaguely.

Alicia half smiled. "I bet mine's longer."

He almost smiled back, but instead handed her the photo. "Their names are Irisviel and Illyavisel von Einzbern. My wife and daughter."

* * *

><p>They shared everything that night.<p>

Their sacrifices. Their enemies. Their loved ones. Their dreams. Even their laughs for the good memories and tears for the bad. After years of pent up emotions, worried of being alone in their endeavors, they found kinship in their night-long discussion.

The very next day, Alicia forced him to take her to Germany while Taiga watched after the boys. She didn't want Illya to be separated from her father any longer. She was impatient already to get there, but her broom wasn't built to carry two people and she only had the one. So they had to take the long way through a series of airport trips and cross-country car drives.

She followed Kiritsugu diligently through it all, but allowed herself to realize just how simple this world was. There were no wild creatures that roamed and attacked travelers, and the options for travel were very industrialized. That wasn't to say that the world wasn't still dangerous, such as times of war and the constant fighting small countries had to endure.

But then he stopped in the middle of a frozen forest. The winds were fiercer than any she had ever felt on the Winter Islands, but was any of this natural? "Where's Einzbern Castle?"

She didn't think he heard through the roar of the storm, so she tried louder. "Where is it?!"

"I don't know!" he snapped. "This was as far as I ever got to finding her. They're using Bounded Fields, but I can't even begin to trace an opening."

This was problematic, and explained why he spent so much time away. Had Kiritsugu been in his peak condition, he could have found Illya on the first trip over. But as it was, he had lost nearly all of his circuits after the Holy Grail War. That left her to use her rune magic to open a path. But would her spells be enough?

"Explain to me again, then," she asked. "What exactly is a Bounded Field?"

"It's self-explanatory: it alters the topography within the boundary line, and protects the inside from intrusion. It's commonly used as a defense haven for magi."

For some reason, his description reminded her of Shadar's Black Briar. It, too, protected him from her spells and familiars, and failing to defeat him was what led her to this world in the first place. Suddenly she wasn't so sure of her chances.

Perhaps she could try Spring Lock? In a way, a Bounded Field sounded like a locked door if it prevented intruders from trespassing, but that spell was meant for locked doors and treasure chests. If this field was anything like the Black Briar, it required strong magic to overpower it. So unless she could conjure a strong enough pulse, they could be walking forever in a snowfield full of trees.

Wait… the trees.

With her blue staff in hand, she started cast Nature's Tongue: a half circle on the left, crossing over with a sideway V on the right. As the runes flashed away, Alicia could feel the magic working and walked to the nearest tree. "Excuse me; I'd like to ask a favor."

She cared little of what thoughts or reaction Kiritsugu was having, as she was focusing on whether the tree would communicate back or not, and if she could hear its voice. Finally it spoke as an old man would; "You can understand me?"

Thank goodness the spell worked. "Yes, and I would much appreciate it if you could point me the right way to a castle somewhere in this area."

"There is nothing for you there. Leave."

Alicia frowned. "But this man's daughter is somewhere in there. He wants nothing more than to see her again."

"The people there are dangerous," the tree explained. "No… not people. They look like people, but they aren't natural. They're unreal."

"We'll take our chances."

For several minutes, the tree was silent. Alicia could still feel Kiritsugu's stare on her back and turned to address him. His stoic gaze was not unlike the first time she told him she was from another world.

"What?" she finally asked.

"You just talked to a tree," he said in a way that was both incredulous and deadpan.

Honestly, she was a sage and he was a sorcerer. It shouldn't be that astonishing. "And?"

A minute passed as they stared one another in confusion. Finally, Kiritsugu sighed and dropped the issue.

"I spoke with my brethren," said the tree. "And we have agreed to lead you to your destination." Alicia turned back, excited and hopeful, as the tree gave its instructions. "Listen to our voices over the howl of the snow. Whenever you are along the right path, we will say 'hot'. If you are led astray, we will say 'cold' to warn you."

"Hot and cold," Alicia nodded. "Got it."

"We wish you luck on your journey, young magi."

Urging the reluctant Kiritsugu to follow, she followed the voice of the trees that all but shouted her attention towards them. She had strayed from the path twice and the trees were quick to cry out "Cold! Cold!" before they redirected her to the right path.

To their surprise, just beyond the veil of snow, they saw the outline of a large gothic castle. Once more, Nature's Tongue proved that flora and fauna can reveal secrets otherwise unobtainable.

Alicia turned to Kiritsugu to ask and check if this was the right place. She paused seeing his face give way to a shocked and hopeful expression. But then the moment ended and…

One: he shot an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, despite her flushing embarrassment.

Two: with his other arm, he pulled out from the bottomless bag she loaned him a Calico M950, loaded and ready.

Three: he said "Hold on," in a way that was meant to be reassuring but only managed to scare here.

And then they _blurred._ Kiritsugu moved at such a speed that was natural to him, but the world couldn't keep up with their movements. It was almost like the world was a TV show going on fast-forward. Snow and trees flashed by; an intricate window that flashed over them harmlessly; several white humanoid figures with hostile body language; all these images and then some flew over in endless abandon.

Alicia wanted to scream, to cry, to yell at Kiritsugu, but she couldn't even breathe. All she could do was cling to the running sorcerer for dear life and hope she didn't go flying off from the sheer momentum.

And then it finally ended. Alicia had seen scary and disheartening things as a sage. But not even Breach Time had disoriented her so much to the point of being pale and frazzled. She only snapped out of her shock when she heard Kiritsugu cough out blood. Immediately she drew the runes for Healing Hands, and taped the glowing rod tip to his chest.

His breathing started to steady and she allowed herself a sigh of relief. "You should have told me years ago," she said. "About that curse."

"Would you had believed me if I told you?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation behind her words.

Kiritsugu chuckled slightly, and smiled to her. "You're a naïve fool then."

"Better a fool than a cynic."

"There you are!"  
><em><br>Ratatatatatatatata!_

Alicia had flinched and covered her ears when the noise started. She hadn't heard anything so horrid since those Hamelin "tank" things. She noticed, however, that Kiritsugu had armed his submachine gun behind her. She slowly turned and gasped at the white-haired corpse staining the carpet floor.

"Cynics live longer," he said coldly as he casually reloaded his Calico. She decided not to point out the irony of his comment. "Let's hurry."

Despite suffering from wounds that magic couldn't fully heal, Kiritsugu led the charge; he had lived in the castle for years and knew it like the back of his hand. Climbing further along the staircases, he fired at any homunculus that they came across, regardless of hostility or not. Alicia felt torn about killing so many of them, regardless of the reason. She still helped in firing spells of her own to back him up, from Fireballs to Arrows of Light.

When he opened the door, they came to a large bedroom that was already occupied. Immediately noticing them was an elderly looking man with an enraged but dignified face. "Kiritsug-!"  
><em><br>Bang!_

Justacheit Einzbern fell down with a bullet through his head. Kiritsugu had drawn his now smoking pistol from his coat, fixed at where the Einzbern patriarch once stood, his expression hardened.

Alicia was starting to realize why he was feared as the Magus Killer.

The tension passed, he rushed over to the bed, with Alicia slowly behind. "We can't go back the way we came," she said. "But I have an idea. We just need to get outside or open a window."

He didn't say anything; he was too busy staring at the young girl on the bed. Admittedly it also gave her pause: was this Illyasviel? Shouldn't she be close to Taiga's age by now?

He hesitantly reached out to caress her cheek, but couldn't bring himself to touch her. Instead he weakly called out, "Illya?"

The girl stirred awake, and gazed at him with red eyes. "Uuuh… Daddy? You came?"

Kiritsugu's eyes widened, his breath hitched. This wasn't how Alicia expected a family reunion to go, but they didn't have the luxury for that anyway.

"Kiritsugu," the sage barked, snapping him out of his trance. "Grab her and follow me. We're leaving."

It was enough to snap him out of his daze, as he lifted the girl tenderly and followed her. Illya noticed the corpse over his shoulder. "You killed grandpa?" she asked with more curiosity than horror.

"Not now, Illya!"

As she opened a balcony window by the bed, Alicia took a calming breath and ignored all sounds and surroundings; the Travel spell would require the upmost concentration. First, the runes: Up, down, up. Then, cross!

As the rune flashed, the wizard thought back to Fuyuki City: all the smells, all the sounds and all the sights. Most of all, she imagined she was there right now with the boys she loved so much.

"Hold on," she said with a slight bit of irony.

That's when the spell took effect and she felt the rush of air flying 'round the world. It was a feeling almost as pleasant as broom flying but faster and slightly less freedom of direction. It was almost distracting to have this rush overlap the memories of a once-visited area, but once a wizard masters the Travel spell it's all pleasant.

And sure enough, the trio found themselves just outside the Emiya household. She turned to smile at them both, secretly excited to give the boys a new playmate… but both father and daughter were staring at her with gazes akin to awe and fear.

Alicia supposed she looked just as frazzled when Kiristugu displayed his time magic to her.

* * *

><p>Six months had passed since rescuing Illya. In hindsight, Kiritsugu always knew his daughter was angry with him. He just never knew what the extent of it would be.<p>

She was understandably mad about abandoning the Holy Grail War, making her mother's sacrifice meaningless. She was also mad at him for not seeing her sooner, being fed lies that he didn't bother to find her. But of all the possible reasons for her rage, he didn't expect Alicia and the boys to be one, or that she had known he had been living with them for years after the War. As far as Illya was concerned, it meant he cheated on Iri.

It took him days to tell her what he knew about the Grail, and weeks more to get her to forgive him. She still refused to tell him why her body was still that of a toddler, as "punishment". At least she was starting to warm up to Shirou and Oliver.

The same couldn't same for Alicia. If anything, all the hate she had for him was now displaced on her, but the wizard shrugged it off.

"Mr. Emiya?" Kiritsugu looked up from his newspaper, to see Alicia's son holding her book and looking nervous.

Oliver was growing up so fast. Already he was walking and talking, and he had grown so enamored by the wonders of magic and fantasy. Whereas Shirou would read the Wizard's Companion for fairy spells and familiar notes, Oliver would stare at the maps that charted Alicia's home world and memorizing each geographic landscape. He never got tired of hearing the Tales of Wonders either, and sometimes asked _daddy_ to read them to him.

That name was rarely used before, and he was all but afraid to use it now because of Illya.

Kiritsugu said nothing, but gave the boy his attention to continue. "You're good with technology, right?"

"I suppose." He was no engineer, but he knew how to use guns and video cameras. The very idea of using a phone was considered blasphemous to the magi community, despite the practicality.

Oliver opened the book to a selected page and handed it to him. "Do you know how to make this?"

The image was catching, to say the least. Butterfly-like wings attached at the center-base, a drive wheel working as the accelerator, even a windshield visor attached at the front with the handlebars. It almost looked like a-

Kiritsugu's eyes widened as he accepted the Wizard's Companion. By all accounts, Alicia's world had somehow broken the stagnation of tabooing technological innovation and created a flying m_otorcycle_. His interest peaked, and he read the following passages below:  
><em><br>Wizards, of course, do not require magical assistance to fly through the air. Indeed, in times gone by, wizards would not have countenanced travel by any means other than a broom. Alas, the age has changed, and now young wizards insist on using half-magical, half-mechanical contraptions known as "Cloud Sweepers."_  
><em><br>Cloud Sweepers require only the merest dash of magic to get them off the ground, meaning that inexperienced magic users – and even non-wizards! – are able to ride them with gay abandon._

_To give credit where it is due, certain enterprising engineers have gone so far as to attach guns to the front of their Cloud Sweepers, allowing them to attack enemies while in mid-air – a recognized limitation of the traditional wizard's broom._

A soft smile crossed his lips. What he would have given to have something as effective as a Cloud Sweeper in his youth. Apparently the invention was controversial to the book, but not to the level of paranoid magi. "This is really something you should ask your mother," he offered. It came from her world, so she should know more than what the book had to say.

"She uses a regular broom," said Oliver. "So I wanted to surprise her with a Cloud Sweeper for a present. Do you think she'd like it?"

Kiristsugu wasn't sure himself. Alicia was as passionate about magic as any magi, but at the same time she was practical enough to accept the existence of technology. She would rather be traditional, but as more of a personal choice rather than denial.

"How about a music box?" he offered. "You can set it to the tune of your lullaby?"

"A music box? But I don't know how to make that either."

"Don't worry; we can make one together."

Oliver's eyes widened; it was the first time Kiritsugu openly offered to spend time with him, as he was always more partial to Shirou and Illya. From his reaction and anxiety, he must have expected to get rejected simply on the Cloud Sweeper idea. "Are you sure? I mean, Illya-"

"Don't worry about it. If it comes to that, I'll talk to her." Despite what she said or implied, Illya was really a sweet and reasonable girl. Most of the time.

Satisfied, Oliver nodded to himself. He looked away in thought, even mumbling to himself, before asking aloud. "Could you teach me?"

"Hmm?"

"Not just the music box," he clarified. "Other stuff, like cameras and cars. I want to learn all the stuff you know. And maybe when I'm older, we can make a Cloud Sweeper together!"

Kiritsugu smiled softly. "I'll think about it." The idea of sharing a hobby was a fond one. So much that he didn't want to crush the poor boy with the fact that he was going to die soon.

* * *

><p>"Too much caffeine's bad for you, especially at this hour."<p>

Alicia glared slightly at the magus sitting next to her. "You can correct me on _my_ unhealthy habits when you start recovering prana through tobacco sticks."

Kiritsugu smiled weakly and closed his eyes. They were sitting along the engawa again, dressed in warm hakama and enjoying the basking glow of the full moon.

To think it had been five years already. So much had happened since their respective colossal failures, and they were sitting together in this rural house without a care in the world.

Alicia was about to sip her coffee again when she heard creaking sounds on the floor. She smiled, as she didn't need to look to know who it was. "You shouldn't be up at this hour, Shirou."

The red-haired boy gasped and nearly tripped on his own feet at being discovered. He was wearing a hakama of a similar yet smaller design as Kiritsugu's. "I-I was just heading back from the bathroom, and then I heard you two talking and-"

"It's all right, sweetie," said Alicia. "You can join us." She then knowingly turned to the other end of the hallway. "You two as well."

Two sets of gulps went off, and the shuffling of feet soon followed. Illya was wearing a pink frilly two-piece pajama set, and Oliver in a blue onesie while hugging his favorite doll Mr. Drippy, whom Alicia had made for his fourth birthday.

Drippy was named in memory of the "Lord High Lord of the Fairies" himself. The namesake was a rather boisterous fairy with a lantern on his nose and was easily scared to tears. "Lord High Lord" was also a misleading title, as he was born like the hundreds of other fairies: from the Fairy Godmother. But Drippy had great courage, despite his fear of the dark, and had been her valiant travel guide towards Shadar. In a way, he was seen as a hero among fairy-kind.

Alicia still laughed of how everyone stared at her Drippy impersonation, and Kiritsugu still refused to believe that the fairies of her world talked with, as he put it, "a Welsh accent".

"Oliver kept me up," Illya said quickly. "And told me to help him make a midnight snack."

"But Illya, _you're_ the one wh-Ow!" Oliver's rebuttal was cut short by a swift elbow to the chest, and she moved closer to the adults. Soon, both the boys joined her too.

Illya sat on Kiritsugu's left, wanting to be close to her father yet away from Alicia. On the flip side, Oliver cuddled close to his mother, partially in fear of the white haired homunculus. Shirou sat between both parents without much preference otherwise. The five of them sat in silence and enjoyed the night sky, bonding.

Shirou then looked over his adopted father with a frown. He had his eyes closed since they all showed up. "Are you alright, old man? If you're that tired, you should go to bed."

"Shirou!" Alicia scolded. Honestly, what a disrespectful way to address his father!

But Kiritsugu chuckled. "It's all right, I'm fine," he assured them both. Alicia's frown only grew, for she knew he was certainly _not_ fine. His condition was finally catching up to him, especially after using his Time Magic Crest in Germany.

"I'm fine," he said again. "I was just… thinking."

"About what, daddy?" asked Illya

A whimsical smile grew on his face, full on longing and sadness. "About when I was young, and how much I wanted to be a hero."

Shirou's frown grew. "What do you mean 'wanted'? Did you give up?"

Everyone's eyes were on him, but the retired sorcerer was focused up at the full moon. "Unfortunately, yes. It gets harder to be a hero as you get older, let alone calling yourself one. I only wished I had realized that sooner."

"Before you screwed up, you mean," Illya remarked, pouting. The boys, unaware of her meaning, turned to her in confusion.

"That's too bad though," Oliver said a moment later, hugging Mr. Drippy tighter.

"Yeah, it is," Kiritsugu nodded. Alicia felt for him; he only wanted to help the people of his world, and in the end had almost lost that passion in the tragedy surrounding him. His dream of a perfect world would die with him, and he had accepted this fact.

"Then I'll be a hero."

Everyone turned to Shirou, who was smiling and staring intently at his stepfather. "You're an adult now, old man, so even if you wanted to, you can't do it again. But I can take over. You don't have to worry about your dream anymore: just leave it to me!"

Illya pouted in a way that she didn't believe him but thought the confession was cute regardless. Oliver beamed with enthusiasm over the older boy's proclamation. Alicia was more openly surprised how much Shirou wanted to do this for his stepfather, and turned her gaze to the older man to gauge his reaction.

Kiritsugu didn't react visibly, but his body language and subtle changes told her that he was stunned and amazed. For all the mistakes he had made, he was able to successfully salvage the lives closest to him and live the rest of his days in peace. Days Alicia had no doubt he wanted to share with his wife and everyone else in the world. But Shirou wanted to make his dream come true, back in the most idealist form. Not to grant world peace, but to be a hero.

And so he smiled; a small smile that looked so fragile, but it was full of warmth and joy. "I see," he said softly, and closed his eyes. "Then I don't have to worry anymore."

It was an innocent admittance, but the alarm bells were screaming in her ears. Why now? Why here?

"Illya. I'm proud of you, and I'm sorry I haven't been a better father to you. Do try to get along with Alicia and the boys; they love you just as much as your mother and I do."

The young-looking homunculus's eyes widened. She reluctantly stared back at Alicia, eyes starting to glisten. "I-I'll try," she promised.

"Oliver. I know it's hard, but try not to be a cry baby bunting. You have a true talent for inventing and magic. I know you'll make that Cloud Sweeper someday."

The young wizard hugged Drippy tighter, frowning. "But I'm _not_ a cry baby bunting," he weakly argued, soft as a whisper.

"Shirou. Never forgot about the people most important to you. Keep them close, and you'll be a greater hero than I could ever hope to be."

The magi-in-training nodded sharply. He always took his stepfather's words to heart, and was already beaming with pride that he had his blessing.

A pause followed as Kiritsugu spoke to the last person, again without ever opening his eyes. "Alicia."

A long pause. Her heart froze in the tension, worried if he would die before whatever important he had to say-

"Thank you for everything."

Four simple words. They held nothing but everything in themselves. Those were the only words close enough to show his feelings towards her.

But… surely those weren't his final words? Timidly, Alicia turned to the adult figure on her right. "Kiritsugu?"

No response.

"Kiritsugu?" she asked again, reaching for good measure.

His hand was cold; he was just a dead corpse now, with the same soft smile on his face.

"Daddy?" Illya squeaked as she tugged his arm as well, close to breaking down. Oliver started to cry into Mr. Drippy, and Shirou was staring at him with disbelief.

Kiritsugu Emiya was gone. That fact alone saddened Alicia. But for the first time in so long, the death was natural without a loss of heart virtue. It wasn't like Roan or anyone else Shadar had left brokenhearted. He was truly at peace in his final hours.

And it made her just as happy.

"I-it's all right children," Alicia smiled at them through her tears. "Your father… he lived a wonderful life in the end, and with a mended heart. I'm sure of it."

* * *

><p>AN: It's funny how easy to think of crossover ideas for the Type Moon works. It's also easy to make one side look better than the other, because of the nature of some mediums. Looking back and forth, I see the magi and wizard forms of magic like the Technician and the Artist argument. Magi study magecraft solely for the power that comes with it. They know their life style isn't a pretty one but constantly bet everything on a life-or-death battle with one another. A wizard on the other hand, learns magic on the pretense to help better the lives of people around them. And it's not just in Ni no Kuni; other Ghibli characters like Kiki or Ponyo or even Totoro know magic and tend to use it to help others.

This one is more of a prequel to a future story idea that further mixes Fate/Stay Night and Ni No Kuni.

For clarification: Shirou can use NNK familiars (as non-wizards Esther and Swaine prove, and a good number of people in the Solosseum tourney), but his specialized skill set makes it almost impossible to draw the rune himself. On the flip side, he can use the unusable spells in the game that were once just flavor text for the Wizard's Companion.

And just because they have better training doesn't make Shirou or Oliver any less ignorant or unprepared. They're just not as green in their subject matter, which means they start at a slightly better but still overall bad situation when their respective story roles kick in.

The Drippy doll is just that. A doll. Really, his intro, while a good way to whisk Oliver to his world, makes no sense. How exactly he crossed worlds isn't explained, nor is how he was stuck in doll form aside from "Shadar did it" (and for a decade or so at that). And then there's the whole "communicating" thing with Surly and Burly...

I think what worried me most was the Einzbern infiltration scene, because I wondered if trees could really figure out a hole through Bounded Fields. My reasoning at the time of writing was that trees are just as immobile as Bounded Fields once set, and are living things despite their inability to communicate. They might know secrets most humans or animals can't figure out. I also almost threw in a Leysritt fight but then remembered "she isn't born yet". Nor will be, considering that the Einzbern family has lost not only their patriarch, but their last best chance at winning the grail.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this. Consider it nice food for thought of the future life of the Einzbern-Emiya-Sage siblings.


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